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November 17, 2009

Pink Toenail Polish

Last week, in the wake of the reality that Lucas County Dog Warden Tom Skeldon is a dog killer, The Toledo Blade has begun reporting a listing of all dogs adopted, and all dogs killed, at the Lucas County shelter at least until changes are made in the shelter. From the 11/14 report, which features 17 dogs killed, and 4 adopted, it seems that little is being done in the short term to bring an end to shelter killing.

But it is a dog on the 11/13 report that caught the eye of one of my readers in the comment section, that is th inspiration for the blog posting. Here's the part of the report:

Reading this can't help but break your heart. Obviously, this dog was someone's dog. Clearly behind the scenes here was an owner that cared dearly about their dog....they loved the dog so much they POLISHED HER TOENAILS. This isn't some inner city dog fighter like Tom Skeldon would have you believe is the "typical" pit bull owner and why he needs a ban. It was a caring person, who clearly had a connection with their dog.

Somehow, the dog got free (which anyone who owns a dog can tell you, can happen, even to a responsible owner), ended up in the animal shelter, and killed.

Now, most shelters would have workers and volunteers who are compassionate about animals. They would see this dog, realize the dog had an owner, and work their butts off to find that owner. They would post flyers in the North University area. They would talk to neighbors (I mean, come on, someone HAS to know the owner of the pit bull that polishes their toenails) and would work to find the owner who loved this dog. But this was in Toledo, where only 13% of the dogs make it out alive, and thus, the dog is dead.

But then that got me thinking, what about the dogs in shelters across the U.S. that have owners, but aren't wearing pink toenail polish?

Dogs can get loose for a variety of reasons. Just a few weeks ago, my wife and I were out hiking and at the trail head, this dog came up to us. We pet the dog and checked out his collar -- his name was Huck. We have Huck some of our peanut butter sandwhich, a couple of carrots and a little drink of water. Huck was a little dirty and we couldn't find an owner, anywhere. We called the phone number on his tag and no one answered. We decided that most likely someone was looking for the dog and that we would leave him there. If Huck was there when we finished the hike, then we'd start searching for his owners.

We later met a woman on the trail, who was a little frantic that her dog had somehow wandered off while they were out hiking together and she didn't know where he went. I assume Huck and his owner were reunited.

But the moral of the story is, this was a caring owner, who was taking their dog out hiking, and the dog got loose. It happens. And the dog, gone from his owner for no more than a couple of hours had found water and mud and had gotten dirty. He looked a little disheveled.

But what would have happened if Huck had made it to a shelter and somehow lost his tags? Would the shelter have assumed that he was abandoned out in the woods? Would they have assumed that he was homeless because he was so dirty? Would they have assumed that the owner was not caring and irresponsible for letting their dog run free? Or ould they have busted their butts to try to find Huck's human hiking companion?

I guess my point is that a lot of dogs that find their way into the shelter are owned dogs. They have owners who love them, care about them, and sometimes paint their toenails pink. But what if their toenails aren't pink? What if the signs of ownership are not as obvious and the dog is a little dirty. Do we assume the dog is a stray? Or assume the dog is lost? And what resources do we put into finding the dog's home vs finding the dog a new home?

Do we think lost, not stray, even when the dog does not wear pink toenail polish or have other obvious signs of being owned? We should.

I think what makes Lucas County so disturbing is all the things they DON'T do which have led to the death of 77% of incoming dogs.

For the first 30 years, they didn't scan for microchips and were reticent to a law that would require it.

They haven't ever used petfinder or adopt-a-thons or the internet to a) reunited owners with dogs or b) promote adoptions. They're using petfinder now, but not really because they want to.

They apparently only hold dogs two days before killing them.

It is almost a miracle that they adopt out 400 dogs a year.

The toenail bit just stuck out. I can see a lonely little girl curling up with her year old pit bull. I can watch as she brings out the nail polish and the dog, true to her nature, endures the whole event with grace and as much dignity as she can muster. It's an emotional visual, I know and it isn't logical, by any means.

But it reflects the greater picture, the irrational slaughter of thousands of dogs because they look a certain way. Nail polish or not, the ONLY reason that young, female pit bull is dead is because she was born looking a certain way. That isn't right.

Nichole, most states have things like minimum hold requirements that cities must abide by. In most states it's 3 or 5 days. I'm pretty sure it's 3 in Ohio. So not a lot of time at all for shelters that don't post animals online, aren't open at hours when people can readily get to them, won't give straight answers on the phone or are hard to get to for people who don't have autos.

Rinalia, when you pointed that out it was pretty devastating....because obviously this dog went from dearly loved to dead in a matter of a few short days...for no reason than someone's neglegence and hatred.

Looking at all the animals he killed today, I was reminded of his wish to "keep "these dogs as far underground as possible so they are not in a position to bite the kids or bite the mailman or whatever." What a disservice people who kill to promote safety do to a community.

I like the idea of publishing these public records. Maybe someone could start up a service in Toledo which offers to match potential adopters up with people like this to save their pet from going to the shelter. It might have taken all of 15 minutes to place this dog with the right tv ad.

It seems that someone should make something of the fact that at best this Tom Skeldon's thinking seems to be pathological, literally sick, even able to induce illness. The same person who is that hateful to dogs in general wants a "pit bull ban."

In Ohio they only have to hold dogs for 3 days. In the state I live in it is 10 days which should be plenty of time plus when you inform one shelter the others know about it. I had animal control 30-45 min away call asking if the dog they found was my missing one. It wasn't but it was far from me and I did find the dog. I hear that in Ohio shelters are starting to work together to transfer adoptable dogs to places where there is space instead of killing them. That is what they do here and we don't really have high kill shelters but also have great spay/neuter programs.

Still 3 days is no where near enough time. What if the owner is hospitalized and cannot pick up the dog? Will they have time to be able to inform someone and get them to go get the dog before it is too late? Will the shelters actually hold a dog that has a confirmed owner (microchip) and haven't been able to reach that owner, like they were on vacation and the dog escaped from the sitter

It is saddening and enlightening when I recieve information like this. If you watch the animal police shows, you see on one hand the extreme cruelty and neglect issues in society, but are lulled into believing there is an effective force out there fighting against it. I have personally rescued cats, dogs, and horses. We do not have a humane society in our area, so many of us take matters into our own hands, by educating or rescuing.